The Sapphire Crow
by Miss Seraphine
Summary: A magician plans to take over a poor English town. The population splits itself into 2 parties: Those who support him and those who're against him, led by a vagabond. What are the man's intentions and will he be stopped or glorified? Involves ExT and SxS.


**Chapter 1 – New Wizard in Town**

"So how about that?"

The crowd screamed and howled, some of them out of anger and others out of happiness. The people raised Cain, their mouths were opened widely and the tumult was deafening. Their hands groped about, trying to reach the wooden stage on which the newcomer, a leader to be, enjoyed listening to his applauding future followers. He arrogantly drew a hand through his black hair and swung his golden wand back and forth. Pride oozed from it.

"Witchcraft, I'm telling you, WITCHCRAFT!"

A young man with messy, chocolate brown hair underneath an olive drab green hat, fought his way through the liveliness. He was a tramp's child. His filthy, ripped clothes made some women sniff in disgust. A torch lighted up and he heaved it above the screeching heads. His dark, fiery eyes were burning.

"A rioter? You sure have guts showing yourself to me… All by yourself."

The man shook his perfect, shining hairs in the air. The sun drew a dark blue gleam in them. He put the extremely long wand, wearing an enormous sun as its head, to the ground and loosely leaned on it. His chin elevated, he looked at his problem for a moment. It made him look dominating, powerful.

"You wouldn't dare doing anything to me anyway, not now, not in front of the unknowing eyes of the entire town!" The rebel shouted and he climbed on stage. One of the bystanders gave him a push which made him trip over the boards and fell right in front of the magician. "Damn it… Curse you, Yamazaki, I knew it was you!"

"I don't care one bit, a wretch like you won't even come near me anymore as soon as I have sided with him!"

A brown reddish haired girl, wearing braided ponytails, hesitatingly pulled Yamazaki's sleeve. "Takashi, stop this… Syaoran is right, we shouldn't throw ourselves into his arms all of a sudden…" She looked frightened.

"Enough!" the young man in the midnight blue gown commanded them. An imaginary thunderstorm hung above his head. How dared this vagabond break off his performance? He wanted to have the audience's full attention to himself. While turning his impressive wand in his hands, he determined the position of his interrupter, whereupon he pulled out to him and swung the wand. He hit the boy in his side, pushing him off the stage, and hauled him back into the crowd. The torch escaped from his fingers. The startled people started to push each other over, trying to avoid it. In his flight, Syaoran managed to turn around like a cat and landed perfectly on his feet, amidst his fellow citizens. He suddenly clutched the ruffled hair on top of his head: His hat was blown off.

"Eriol! For God's sake…"

A red haired woman appeared out of nowhere on the stage and jumped forward. The citizens screamed in surprise. She bended over, pursed her lips and blew her whistling breath across the spectators. A gust of wind followed and blew out of her direction. Her scarlet dress fluttered together with her fiery hairs. The torch leapt up and made a turn towards the stage. The enchanting woman grinned and lifted up her hand, in which she easily catched the torch.

The viewers went mad. Eriol growled irritated and smoothened his robe. "Christ, Kaho… Just what are you thinking?"

Kaho turned her head and stuck out her tongue like a child, pocketing the honour. She laughed at the people and shouted with them, whirling around and taking her applause by bowing over and over again.

_Like she just made a rabbit come out of a hat__,_ Eriol thought to himself, somewhat jealous of the praises she received. Her partner reckoned they had to call it a day for now. With his wand, he knocked three times in a row on the boards. His magical gadgets which he used for the show floated back into his trunk. He snapped his fingers and the torch bearing the flame was put out. Kaho turned around, annoyed.

"We're leaving," the presumptuous wizard said. He bowed to the people and then pulled her close to him. He spread out his robe and wrapped it around them, whereupon they disappeared in thin air.

In the mean time, Syaoran was still crawling over the dusty ground, in between unknown legs. His dirty hands gripped something of which he thought to be his hat. He loudly swore when he had accidentally grasped a toad. Someone tapped his shoulder. The toad slipped out of his hands and hopped away. He looked up angry into a pair of dazzling emerald eyes.

"Oh," he muttered, taken by surprise, and he got up in a clumsy way. He bumped into several people around him, who pushed him back. He lost his balance and fell into the arms of the pretty girl who tapped him. "Damn it… Sorry, I'm sorry!" He turned about and pulled his nose back out of her humble cleavage. Finally, he was able to stand up normally. He wiped off his slimy hand on his already stained trousers. His cheeks were coloured red out of shame when the girl, being one head shorter than him, also blushed and looked at him. "Ah, Miss Kinomoto..."

The young lady smiled uncomfortably at him and held the hat up she was holding to her chest just a minute ago. His hat. The crowd slowly started to drain away from the plaza.

"This belongs to you, doesn't it?" she said, handing him the headgear and smiling sweetly now.

"Er, yes… Thanks," Syaoran muttered and he put it back on his head.

Sakura Kinomoto, daughter of the town's archaeologist. What her father was exactly doing, wasn't really clear to anyone. They usually just thought the old man had lost his mind from staring to rocks and bones too much. But they never said it out loud as it would hurt his darling child. The elder son, Touya Kinomoto, was a jack-of-all-trades who would always take any job available. He was hardly ever home, actually.

They lived on the corner of the street where Syaoran resided in some alley most of the time. In the morning, pretty Sakura would always pick fresh flowers for her father in the field, while carrying a basket on her arm. Sometimes Syaoran tried to wake up extra early so he could observe her. He never dared to talk to her, but every so often the girl caught him in the act of spying on her and they would converse for awhile. She asked him for breakfast once, but according to Syaoran, she only did him the honour out of pity.

"Don't you think it was amazing, the way he made that woman suddenly disappear?"

He didn't respond and pulled his hat more over his head, shadowing his face, and put his hands in his pockets. Pretty, little Sakura stayed silent for a moment and decided to drop the subject.

"Er… Will I see you again sometime? In my street?" she asked him courteously. Being shy, she wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her small breasts together.

"Yeah… Er…" Syaoran no longer stared at her face. "I… Need to go. Er, bye!" He didn't know how fast to get away from her. Sakura didn't even get the chance to lift up her hand and wave. The flared up dust blew into her face and she rubbed her eyes.

--

A black, rolled up rug appeared in the studio of a certain Tomoyo Daidouji. It spun around quickly and grew with every turn. The young lady, only caring for her painter's easel, kept her composure and continued her work, having a paintbrush in her one hand and a palette in her other. The rug had now grown so big that it unrolled itself, throwing an adult woman out of its fabric with amazing speed. She twisted so fast, she flung to the wall. Some paintings hanging onto it fell to the floor and Tomoyo only just knew how to keep her balance. Boyishly, she tucked the paintbrush behind her ear and put her hands to her hips. The rug unrolled itself further until Eriol appeared again. He threw the robe off himself, clearly annoyed.

Kaho rubbed her head and moaned. She tried to stand up straight but hit a shelf above her head and tumbled over again. Books pounded on her legs which made her whimper in pain.

Eriol flung his trunk in the corner of the room and crashed himself into an old, worn out arm chair. Kaho swore, complaining about today's transportation devices.

The young artist came towards the dark haired magician, swaying her hips and looking bothered. Her little nose pointed into the air. The wet, blue paint on the brush stained her raven hairs. She was wearing a beautiful, baby blue dress which almost touched the ground. It made her look like she floated across the floor. The short sleeves were puffed up cutely. A princess design, of which the waist was 'pulled up' until it met the bosom.

"Back so soon? I was just having a hunch of inspiration," she remarked, like it was the most important thing in the world. "And thanks to your barging in you woke me up from my inner peace. Thank you very much, sir Hiiragizawa."

She always called him by his last name when she was angry. She wasn't the type to scream out of frustration: She liked to torture him mentally. Not that she always succeeded in doing so.

Eriol crossed his legs in a graceful way and casually leaned backwards, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at her.

"Would you just keep that agonizing mouth of yours shut for one second?" Eriol said, his voice disturbingly low. He made a gesture like he zipped something. "And quit nagging me."

Tomoyo's lips suddenly sewed themselves together and startled, she put her hands to her mouth. The paintbrush fell to the carpet. Paint stains. She tried to say something but all there was to be heard was vague mumbling. Tears formed in her extraordinary eyes, the eyes Eriol had fallen for. They bore the colour of amethysts. Breathtaking. He grinned and moved his index finger back and forth, like he was imitating a strict school teacher.

"Tsk tsk tsk… Tomoyo-chan," he said carping, looking at her over his round spectacles.

Kaho wiped off her blood red dress which was covered in dust and shook her incredibly long hairs. Out of rage, she threw more stuff off the tables and kicked everything around her.

Eriol's eyebrow twitched. "Kaho, please, just calm down, for Heaven's sake. I'm not exactly in the mood for this." Bored, he cupped his chin and leaned on his elbow.

His former wife looked at him for a second. Fire was in her eyes, and her hair looked like it was burning. It was a terrifying image, the death and destruction that she could express in her appearance. An old, weary soul. Eriol was no longer afraid, though.

"I am so sick of you, Eriol," she then spoke, pulling out her clutches. Her hands made a rustling sound, like that of an old hearth fire. They were dark skinned, slightly wrinkled. They grew robust. He disgusted her now.

Tomoyo ran out of the chaotic room, desperately pulling her lips. The young man held his hand up and sighed. "Not now, I mean it."

The furious woman opposite him howled lustily and bolted forwards. She stormed out of the open window behind his arm chair, at which she spontaneously jumped over him and took off from the back of the chair. They were on the third floor. The wind ruffled Eriol's hair. He sucked his ring finger and softly rubbed it, like it was hurting. The shadow of an invisible ring had captured the piece of skin. Upstairs he heard pounding on the floor: The delightful sound of his lover, mentally destroying herself.

He glanced at the wobbly painter's easel, by coincidence the only thing Kaho hadn't knocked over. The canvas showed him a brilliant blue crow, sparkling like a sapphire. Tomoyo had a thing for the colour blue, she could find peace in it. The bird had spread out his wings and aimed his head to an invisible source of light. It searched for illumination, truth. Power. An elevated one, someone to lead the fools in this world living in chaos.

Eriol put his finger to his mouth. A mischievous smile decorated his pale lips.

--

**A/N:** It's vague, isn't it? No worries, I'll start explaining stuff slowly in the upcoming chapters. Teehee... And OOCness can be fun! Please let me know what you think by leaving me a review, I'd really appreciate it.  
For the ones reading my other ExT story, Crashed, I just want to say I haven't dropped it and I won't! Just felt like taking a break and writing this.  
Now hurry and push the review button!


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